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The 2021 Crankworx World Tour stop in Innsbruck was action-packed, with five major MTB competitions taking place.
Slopestyle
Emil Johansson is the man nobody in the slopestyle scene can match. The young Swede put in an incredible trick-heavy run, with both regular and oppo tricks, all linked with precision. Taking his fourth slopestyle win in a row, Johansson took home gold with a winning score of 97.5.
Second place was taken by Nicholai Rogatkin, who pulled an Opposite Cashroll on the final jump in his second run. “I feel amazing about the Opposite Cashroll,” said the American. “It’s a trick that I’ve worked really hard on. I worked on it for a couple of years and this is actually the first place I’ve ever done it on dirt, so it was a big relief that I could put a big, opposite manoeuvre in my run. That felt amazing.”
POSITION | RIDER | POINTS |
---|---|---|
Gold | Emil Johansson | 97.5 |
Silver | Nicholai Rogatkin | 95.5 |
Bronze | Torquato Test | 93.25 |
Downhill
A raw and natural track: off-camber, rough and steep, with a lot of loose turns. It was a worthy test of the elite World Cup riders who’d come to Innsbruck to race and it was Austrian rider Vali Höll who took the gold position in the women’s field, with Loris Vergier sealing top spot in the men’s race.
POSITION | MEN’S | WOMEN’S |
---|---|---|
Gold | Loris Vergier | Vali Höll |
Silver | Troy Brosnan | Nina Hoffmann |
Bronze | Finn Iles | Tahnée Seagrave |
Speed & Style
The Speed & Style event was highlighted by world-firsts, progression and winning streaks. In the men’s, Tomas Lemoine secured his fourth Innsbruck win in five years. The Frenchman has now won the last three Speed & Style competitions across the Crankworx World Tour, in Innsbruck in 2020 and 2021, as well as Rotorua 2020.
In the women’s, Jordy Scott is now undefeated in Crankworx Speed & Style, having won every event since the women’s category was introduced in Whistler 2019. But it was Robin Goomes who carved her name into the history books, becoming the first woman to ever land a backflip at a Crankworx competition.
POSITION | MEN’S | WOMEN’S |
---|---|---|
Gold | Tomas Lemoine | Jordy Scott |
Silver | Thomas Genon | Vaea Verbeeck |
Bronze | Timothé Bringer | Harriet Burbidge-Smith |
Dual Slalom
Now in its third year as a competition event in Innsbruck, dual slalom brought together some of the best all-round mountain bike athletes to race head-to-head on a twisting track made up of rollers, berms and tricky grass turns.
Tomáš Slavik and Ed Masters were the ones to watch in the men’s race. Masters was leading, but a narrow miss of the final gate meant the win was Slavik’s. “I was pushing in every single turn. I only made a few mistakes the whole day so there couldn’t be a better start to the season. It’s great that my performance is good and that my training is working,” said Slavik.
In the women’s event it was Harriet Burbidge-Smith who took the victory against Casey Brown. “It was perfect,” said the Aussie rider. “This is one of my favourite tracks to ride Slalom.” Usually only seen on the downhill tracks Vali Höll swapped her DH bike for a smaller rig and secured Bronze.